


A Chance At Happiness

by Moobaby



Series: Demon Grumps AU [1]
Category: Game Grumps
Genre: Alternate Universe - Demons, Anxiety, But it turns out okay, Crossdressing, Depression, F/M, Succubi & Incubi, Suicide Attempt, egobang if you squint but it's really just Arin and Dan's regular banter, i'll add tags as necessary, reader has depression and anxiety and tries to commit suicide, this will most definitely eventually include smut
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-26
Updated: 2017-03-03
Packaged: 2018-09-20 00:55:36
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 14,324
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9468275
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Moobaby/pseuds/Moobaby
Summary: You're devastated after yet another bad breakup. It's happened so many times, you decide life is not worth living anymore.You're stopped by an unconventional savior, which lands you both in hot water.(Demon!Grumps AU. This is my first time publishing my fiction on the internet.)





	1. An Unconventional Savior

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You're spared by an unconventional savior.

_How many times had this happened to me, at this point?_   You thought. Ever since you were old enough to date—at least, to date in secret from your parents—you’ve put your heart out there so many times, and it always ended like this. You gave your all and received nothing in return. You thought it was going to be different this time, but it wasn’t.

You looked down at the glowing blue screen of your cellphone, reading over the texts several-times-too-many than was good for your heart. You hiccupped and sniffled. You thought this one—this guy—wasn’t going to be like the other guys that had hurt you, he made you feel like he never would. But here it was, and he was hurting you like you hadn’t felt in years. _Just what I get, for opening my heart again_ , you accused yourself, and the hot tears spilled down your cheeks with faster succession.

But, there was no point in crying about it anymore. You had shed so many tears, in situations just like this, over the last decade. Crying wouldn’t change anything, and it wouldn’t make your most recent beau come back.

You forced yourself to stop crying, turning off the screen of your phone with a soft click. You dabbed at your face with the collar of your shirt. It was deathly silent in your apartment, where you lived alone. Animals weren’t allowed, and you couldn’t find a place you could afford that did allow them.

It had been nice having your now-ex around, because you were less lonely when he was there. You always felt lonely, for as long as you could remember. It was one of the many symptoms of your depression, and your anxiety was the one slowly destroying you from the inside.

_He never loved you, he was using you from the start, and you were too stupid to see it. You’re an easy target because you’re fat, and ugly, and…_

It never stopped. The only thing that would get you through the day was finding things to drown out that nagging, hateful mantra in the back of your mind.

You watched YouTube, you played video games, you liked to read and write, even draw when you had the right motivation. None of this necessarily made you happy, but it made it easier to get through the day, because it occupied you from your own thoughts.

But right now, none of those things were working. This breakup was like a catalyst that had ignited your anxiety and depression into a roaring campfire that just couldn’t be smothered.

Then your phone started to ring. It wasn’t a call, but the timer you had set, for the oven in the next room. You had forgotten you put in a tray of cookies before he texted you. You had a hard day to begin with, and peanut butter chocolate chip cookies sounded good at the time. Now, you didn’t really care. You decided to let them burn.

Your antidepressants on the bedside table were looking rather inviting. _Would anyone even notice if you were gone? You had very few friends as it was, and most of them were sick of hearing about how sad you were all the time. You would probably be doing everyone a favor if you just ended it._

You reached for the bottle, and popped the lid off, staring at the dozen-or-so white tablets within. There was a water bottle on the bedside table that you reached for as well.

The tears were streaming down your cheeks again as you softly hiccupped. You didn’t want to hurt or be sad any more. _It would all be over soon,_ you assured yourself…

Just as you had tipped the pill-bottle back, with the rim against your lips, you felt someone, or something, grab your wrists and yank them away from your face. You smelled peanut butter chocolate chip cookies when you heard someone speak. You were so shocked, unsure if this was actually happening or not, that you squeezed your eyes shut and just listened to what the voice had to say.

“Don’t. Don’t do it. I don’t know what’s going on for you right now but don’t do it. There are so many things in this world that you’ll be missing.”

His voice was gentle, like a breeze jostling through hung-up bedsheets in a rural backyard. You weren’t a religious person, but the only thing you could think of was that this was an angel intervening. You began to tremble, and you lowered your head and shoulders as you began to cry again.

“I don’t care that I’ll be missing anything. Seeing and doing all of the greatest things in the world isn’t worth it when you feel like this all the time.” You sniffled, and you felt one of the hands on your wrists release its grasp, and then the hand was on your head.

“But you’re not giving yourself the chance to be happy. You don’t know what tomorrow will bring.”

You had heard that a thousand times, but somehow, hearing it from the lips of an actual angel made it feel different. You lifted your head some, and rubbed at your eyes after having dropped the pill bottle and the still-closed water bottle onto the floor, tablets clattering on the ground.

You looked up to see your savior—

You weren’t prepared for what you saw.

You had been expecting an angel, and in some ways, it seemed like that wasn’t too far off, and yet it was the furthest away from an angel you could have predicted. Before you, hunched over due to his height, was a beautiful man. He had the wildest, untamed mane of curly-brown hair you’d ever seen, framed by a pair of hot-red, curled, goat-like horns.

A demon. Not an angel.

And yet, he had the face on an angel, like he was carved by god himself—or the gods, whatever one believed. He had deep, brown eyes that were so beautiful you were unable to really feel shock at the moment, as you stared into them. His eyesockets were filled in, shaped like black diamonds, which made the whites of his eyes really stand out.

The demon was still holding onto one of your wrists. His breath smelled like cookies, still. He reached over with his free hand and dabbed away the tears on your cheeks, and you could see his fingertips ended in black claws rather than fingernails.

“I know you’re shocked. This isn’t how I usually make introductions. But I’m glad I got here in time. Actually, I wouldn’t have shown up at all if I hadn’t smelled those cookies in the oven. I got ‘em just before they could burn, and I heard you in here…”

He rambled a little, his voice was bouncy and energetic, despite the clear concern on his face and in his tone. You were still shocked, but also confused. You managed to find your voice, and squeaked out, “Why?”

“Because I couldn’t just let those cookies burn! That’s unforgiveable.” He offered a grin, but after seeing the expression on your face, he cleared his throat some. “Oh. Well, this isn’t really my bag. Demons—we’re usually the ones dealing out death and the like but, well… Mm, Big guy downstairs isn’t going to be happy that I stopped you. So, if you’re still going to go through with it, I can’t keep you from it. But I’ve known people, I’ve known other demons, who did what you almost did, and they’re not happy. They’ll never really be happy.” He stroked your cheek with his oddly-shaped, taloned thumb.

“You humans are precious creatures. I was never human, like some of my peers, but I was an angel. I was created to be perfect. You humans are inherently imperfect, yet you are capable of so much; it’s beautiful and incredible. That’s why the big guy upstairs took my wings, because I like you guys too much. But at least, being a demon, I get to spend lots of time here in the human realm.”

He rescinded, releasing you from his grasp and standing at his full height. He was probably six-and-a-half-feet tall. He was wearing jeans that were so ragged they barely served their purpose, tufts of dark brown fur sticking out of the holes and tears, indicating his goat-esque legs. He wore a black shirt with a runic language in red, and while you couldn’t understand the text, it was similar to a band tee. On top of it all, a black leather jacket with threatening spikes all over it. His feet were actually hooves, black and cloven. Behind him was a lazily swaying red tail that ended in a tuft of hair reminiscent of that which surrounded his horns—curly, thick, and brown.

What he had said was moving. You still weren’t sure if you were hallucinating or not, but the tablets on the floor indicated you hadn’t succeeded in consuming any of them. He had touched you, so he must be real, or this was a really, really vivid dream.

“What’s your name?” He asked, and you were brought back from your thoughts, looking up at his face again, having to crane your neck up since you were seated and he was double your height at the moment.

“It’s… It’s _____.” You manage, quietly.

The demon smiled, then. You hadn’t noticed until now, but his teeth were sharklike, individually sharpened into points.

He pat you on the cheek once, giving you a smile. “Well, _____, I need to get going. You’re gonna be alright, you know? You humans are so resilient. Whatever you’ve got going on right now, it’ll work out. Consider this my thanks for the cookies. I’ll make sure to leave you a couple.”

And then he walked out of your room, leaving you sitting there on the side of your bed. Once he had exited your bedroom door, the sound of his footsteps had disappeared. Had that all really just happened?

After a few more minutes of stunned silence, sitting completely still, you stood up. You felt a couple of the tablets under your feet as you walked toward your bedroom door.

Your apartment consisted of about four rooms; your bedroom, a single bathroom, a living area, and a room containing your kitchen and dining area. It was all very small, since you lived here alone and had little furniture anyway. Your bedroom door opened into the kitchen, so you could see the mostly-bare tray of cookies you had made earlier, now with only four cookies left out of the 24 you had made. So, that really had happened?

You walked over to the kitchen counter to closer inspect the tray. It was still hot. The oven was still hot, as well, but had been turned off and was venting its excess heat. There was also a jug of milk on the counter that the demon had supposedly forgotten to put away before running off with the rest of your cookies. You picked it up, it was still cold, and sweating from the heat of the room. The sensations of hot and cold on your skin somehow felt so much more significant now.

You put the jug back in the fridge, and turned back to the counter. You hadn’t seen it earlier from the angle you had approached, but there was a blood-red business card tucked underneath the tray. You carefully picked it up and inspected it.

The language it was written in looked like the weird language that had been on the demon’s shirt. You couldn’t decipher it, so it didn’t do you much good. Flipping it over to the other side, however, displayed a swirling black vortex that settled into place, in English text, reading ‘Danjlach’ in large lettering near the top. The text underneath kept rearranging to read different things. ‘Debt Collector, Trickster, Music enthusiast.’ The last one seemed a bit out of place.

The text reshaped a final time with numbered instructions for summoning. That sounded like a bad idea entirely. He had shown up of his own accord this time, and he had said this was his ‘thanks’ for absconding with your cookies. But if you summoned him yourself, he might want to arrange an agreement for your soul or something. Despite what he had just stopped you from doing earlier, the state of your soul hadn’t been a concern until now, and that was enough to make you not want to lose it. At least for the time being.

You decided you would keep the card. You didn’t plan on ever summoning him, but you wanted to keep it, as a reminder. A reminder that life can be worth living if you give it the chance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading the first chapter! It was a little nerve-racking to post this, due to it coming from a deeply personal emotional place, but I want to share my fiction with the world. I have several other fics underway at the moment as well, and if people begin showing interest then I may start posting more!
> 
> I already have four chapters of this story written. If enough interest is shown, I'll post the next chapter very soon!
> 
> (And if you like, follow me @moobaby on tumblr and send me asks about this story!)


	2. The Sentencing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dan returns home, to Hell, only to find out that someone is looking for him, and the outcome cannot be good.

_Man, those cookies had been delicious._ The made-from-scratch kind of cookies were, admittedly, the best around. They always had a unique taste, never quite like anything else he ever tasted, because every batch was just a slight bit different from the last. The break-apart cookie dough bricks and the cut-your-own loaves and logs of cookie dough were good, too, but they just couldn’t beat that once-in-a-lifetime taste of home-made cookies.

He'd been so lost in his thoughts, savoring the lingering taste and the weight in his belly that only human-world food could create, that he didn’t realize he was already home; which was a cramped apartment in Hell with his roommate, Baarjkos. Danjlach just called him Barry, however, as the full name was too long and Danjlach was too lazy to bother saying the whole mouthful. Most demons went by nicknames down here, anyway. Using their real name was akin to being scolded by a parent, using your first, middle, and last name. So, most people just called Danjlach ‘Dan’, or ‘Danny.’

He opened the door to the apartment, and entered. “Hey, Barry, you around?” He called out, removing his leather jacket and hanging it by the door. No vocal response, but he heard Barry in his room across the way. Sounded as if he had been sitting at his desk and was coming to greet him.

“Oh man, did I interrupt something?” Danny waggled his eyebrows with a lascivious grin when his roommate opened his bedroom door. He was staring at Dan with a serious glare, which killed his vibe pretty quick.

“Hey, man, what’s up? I was just playin—“ Dan started, but was cut short as Barry began approaching, his eyes cold and his hands balled into fists. Barry never looked like this, at least not towards Dan.

“ _What the fuck did you do, Dan?_ ” Barry said, his voice completely serious.

“What? I went to the surface and collected some debts, what are you getting on about?” Dan cleared off his shirt then, hoping there wasn’t any leftover cookie crumbs to incriminate him for snacking on the job.

“The Big Guy is looking for you, there are Elites coming to take you to him. _What, did, you, do?_ ” Barry stepped closer, his eyes wide with terror and concern for his friend, but also anger that his friend did something reckless enough to attract the attention of Satan himself.

Dan went pale, paler than he already was. He felt all of his insides clench up in fear. “Oh, fuck… Uhm… I _may_ have made a detour, because one of the apartment complexes I was collecting at, I smelled some of those cookies I like so much, and, well, they were just left in the oven and they were gonna burn anyway so I thought I’d cash in, and… I walked in on a human about to commit suicide.”

“You _didn’t_ stop them, did you?” Barry asked, accusingly. He was more callous towards the humans. They were his means for survival, since he was a contractor, so he didn’t have any affection for them.

Dan’s expression faltered from one of fear to one of empathy, a look a demon normally didn’t wear, and it caused Barry to look away from Dan in disgust. “I… Dude, you didn’t see her, she was young, and—“

“It doesn’t matter, Danjl’. Whatever was going to happen was going to happen for a reason, and you fucked it up. Now it’s on your head. The Boss is gonna be _pissed_.” Barry rubbed at his temples, looking at the ground rather than at Dan.

As if on cue, there was an aggressive banging at the apartment door. The voice that spoke was low, gravelly, and distorted. **“Danjlach! You have been summoned! If you don’t comply, you will regret the consequences!”** These were some of Satan’s elite, they were not like Dan or Baarjkos. It wasn’t advisable to go against their command.

Dan sighed, his chest tight. _Why did I have to be so empathetic?_ He cursed himself.

He headed towards the door. He placed his hand on the knob, but before opening it, attempted to put on the meanest, fear-nothing face he could muster. He opened the door, and sneered in the ugly, deformed, terrifying faces of the Elites on the doorstep.

“I was _just_ headin’ out.” He retrieved his jacket from the hook on the wall by the door, and slung it carelessly over his shoulder before stepping out onto the step between the two towering elites. They were big and brutish, but not anywhere near as stupid as they looked. They had risen in their ranks for a reason, after all.

Barry followed them out. While he didn’t approve of Dan’s actions, he was Dan’s friend. While one may think such things wouldn’t matter to demons, they were surprisingly social beings. There were demons who preferred their solitude and thrived in it, but many demons formed tightly-knit groups in which they relied on each other to complete tasks for one another.

Within Dan and Barry’s group of friends, Dan was the debt collector. He did not offer contracts or make agreements, he wasn’t a good salesman. Too empathetic, and a bad liar. Barry made contracts, because he didn’t have any qualms with tricking or lying to humans.

Their friend Rahhskar was a tormentor, one who carried out ill-will against humans when it was arranged. Whenever a human would make a contract that resulted in the suffering of another human being, Rahhskar made sure that the suffering was great, and slow. Everyone typically kept his name down to ‘Rahhs’ or ‘Ross,’ usually following or followed by some sort of expletive, as Ross was a constant annoyance.

Another one of their friends, Birjuhnzar, was a soul-taker, one who collected souls from those whose contracts had been fulfilled. So, in a sense, he was the reaper, the one who ended human lives. Dan and Birjuhnzar had been close friends longer than he had known any of the others in their group of friends, so Dan refers to him as Brian, or Bry.

Lastly, there was Aarhnor and Suuzjnihr, the Incubus and Succubus partners who carried out the contracts of those who had lascivious desires. Aarhnor and Dan were the absolute best of friends, and they hung around each other the most, often getting into some kind of humorous trouble, either in Hell or the human world. Aarhnor had been an angel, just like Dan, but he fell from heaven when he fell in love with a human, his Succubus partner. That had been hundreds of years ago, however. When Suzanne, his human beau, eventually died, he did everything in his power to make sure they could always be together, and now they were. Everyone referred to them as Arin and Suzy.

Dan was escorted by the two Elites to the Hellscraper, which was an enormous, towering, volcanic building in the center of Hell. Hell was an infinite landscape that, if one were to pick a direction and walk straight, would begin to loop. As such, regardless of location, a demon could always see the Hellscraper. Every demon was aware at all times that they were being watched. Upon arrival, Dan and Barry were greeted by the rest of their friends who were sympathetic toward Dan’s summoning, though they did not know the reasoning. They would find out soon enough.

The Elites ushered Dan into the building, paying no mind to the crowd of six that had accumulated and was following them inside. A group of a demon’s peers were allowed to summonings, often called upon during their judgement without prior knowledge that they would be testifying. Satan enjoyed it, as it created tension and distrust among the demons.

Dan had never been inside the Hellscraper before. He had, however, been in similar buildings on the surface world. A surprising amount of business-types dabbled in demonic magic. This place was not much different, other than the roiling heat, the white walls and cubicle cells replaced with jagged, black rock that the building had been carved into thousands upon thousands of years ago. The group approached a grand elevator in the center of the building, and entered, before one of the Elites pressed a button for the uppermost floor. The elevator shot up like a rocket, however the sheer force seemed only to affect Dan and the others, and not the Elites.

The doors opened. The room before them was long, and rectangular. At the far, opposite end of the room was a long desk. Behind it was a grand, throne-like, swiveling chair, in which Satan himself could be seen sitting, facing away from the elevator and looking out the window behind him.  


One of the Elites spoke, and its tone was different from its vicious, commanding presence earlier, now sounding more like what an eager dog would sound like were it capable of speech. **“Master, we have brought Danjlach for his punishment!”**

Satan was indifferent, as he waved his hand dismissively to the two Elites. He did not swivel around in his chair to set his eyes on Danjlach, and for this Dan was grateful. He had never set his eyes on Satan’s face, as many demons had not, and he wasn’t keen on that changing today.

**“Danjlach,”**

The voice that left Satan’s throat was unlike anything that could be described in the human language, and even for Dan and his friends, it unsettled them to their core, especially for Suzy, the only one within the group who had ever been human.

 **“You made a _grievous_ error in saving that human. In taking its own life, its soul would have been delivered to us. You know the power of souls is what keeps our world operating smoothly. A single soul is enough to cause trouble for our way of life.”** He was tapping his clawed fingers on the arm of his chair as he spoke, and each time it caused Dan’s spine to tremble.

**“You even said so yourself to the human, that you knew what you were doing was going to get you in trouble. Yet you did it anyway.”**

Dan finally found the balls to speak up, “I told her— _it_ , I told the human that if it was going to go through with it anyway, that I would not stop it the second time.”

Satan turned his head slightly, just enough that his horns shifted in perspective, but it was enough to cause Dan and his friends to take half a step back. Suzy was covering her eyes, face buried in Arin’s shoulder.

Satan spoke again, **“But the human did _not_. You also told the human that you were doing it a _favor_ … We do not _owe_ humans anything. You felt _indebted_ to the human, for stealing from it. You should not have exposed yourself to the human, you should have taken your find, and _left_. Demons do not do favors for humans, that is the _opposite_ of what we do here.”**

Satan gave a mighty, gruff sigh, and shifted in his seat to be more comfortable, still not turning to face those in the room.

**“I am beginning to think that I should have left you in limbo. I think that you are not _fit_ to be a demon.”**

Dan’s party gasped quietly, he could hear the sharp intakes of breath and the tension in the room rose.

He spoke again, attempting to be defiant, despite the crack in his voice, “Th-that’s not true, I’m _completely_ capable of doing my job! I’ve never made a mistake at what I do. I mean, _maybe_ _once_ or _twice_. And this doesn’t count because it wasn’t part of my job!” Dan felt like he was pleading, now. Honestly, he didn’t want to lose his life as a demon. He had every fucking thing he could have ever desired. In limbo, there was nothing.

Satan’s voice became a growl when he spoke next, **_“You dare protest me?”_**

Dan suddenly felt very small, and he shook his head. “N-no. I’m sorry, Master.”

Satan sighed again, leaning his head down slightly as he deliberated what to do with this troublesome demon. After what felt like half an hour of silence, he spoke.

**“I want to see you prove your worth. Starting the _moment_ that I dismiss you from this room, you will have 90 days, _to the hour_ , to prove that you are worthy of your title as a demon. You will go to the human world, and you will _not_ be permitted to return until you have _taken the life of a human being in cold blood._ It must be by _your_ hands, and _not_ of unfortunate circumstance, and it _cannot_ be justifiable by your _annoying sense of morality_. If you _fail_ , then you will be given a _mortal existence_. You will know _pain, sickness, hunger_ , every feeling than any mortal creature feels that we do not. _If_ you succeed, you will be allowed to return to our realm. _Do you understand,_ Danjlach?”**

Dan’s stomach tightened up. He had never killed a living thing before in his life. He couldn’t even kill insects. Perhaps it was a leftover sentiment from his years as an angel, that he saw worth in living things. It was something that his friends teased him for. He wasn’t sure if he could bring himself to do it. But his life was on the line.

“Yes… I understand, _Master._ ”


	3. The Summons and the Reunion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You attempt to summon the demon that saved your life. Things don't go the way you planned.

It had been a few days since your unsuccessful suicide attempt. You were doing better. You remembered something that someone had once told you—decisions made in a state of intense emotion were never sound decisions. You realized now that you really had dodged a bullet. Or, rather, that someone had pushed you out of the way, and you were grateful.

You began keeping the demon’s business card in your wallet, to keep on you at all times. Not because you were considering summoning the demon, but as a reminder. Sometimes, when you really needed comfort the most, having the card at home on the fridge wasn’t always helpful. Having it on your person, however, made it available whenever you needed it.

Today was a stressful day at work. You were a secretary of sorts, so your job consisted of doing all the menial labor that the other employees didn’t want to do. Shredding files, sorting folders, stocking paper, making copies. Often times, those that were waiting on you to get their work done were impatient, and as such you were expected to do too many things at one time.

You excused yourself, briefly, to use the restroom. As you stood in front of the mirror, taking a breather, you fished the card out of your wallet and looked upon it. You hoped that maybe the text would change to give you some words of encouragement, but it did not tell you anything new.

You briefly considered summoning the demon, but quickly shook the thought from your mind. _How could you even consider that?!_ You wondered. _Summoning a demon? To comfort you?_

But… Perhaps it wasn’t as farfetched as you thought. He had been so kind to you, so selfless. He had once been an angel, so how bad could he be? But he also said he would get in trouble for doing what he did… So what if he wasn’t so kind the next time around?

You decided it was worth the risk. If anything, it would just be nice to talk to someone who seemed to understand what you are going through. And, admittedly, it would be great just to see him again in person, through eyes that weren’t welling with tears. Had he really been as beautiful as you remembered?

You locked the bathroom door, and read through the instructions. It was only three steps. First, you needed a source of open flame. You didn’t smoke, but you did keep a lighter in your purse, in case of some sort of emergency where it would be useful. Secondly, you needed a drop of your own blood.

This was where you began to second-guess your decision. You considered this for a few moments; you had a pin attached to your purse that could be used to get a drop of blood, and you could easily pass it off as a paper cut, just get a bandage for it. You decided you were already this far, that you might as well go through with it.

Lastly, you had to apply the flame to the droplet of blood on the surface of the card. You worried about the card burning, but only for a moment. It was a demon business card, naturally it would be immune to flame! … _Right?_

As you let the pinprick on your finger drip a single droplet onto the red and black card, you carefully applied the lighter to the coppery liquid, and stated the name on the card.

“Danjlach.”

…

But nothing happened. Perhaps you had pronounced it wrong? You tried ‘Don-juhloch,’ and ‘Dahn-yilach’, but nothing was working. You had expected him, or anything, to have happened instantaneously, but maybe you were being impatient? You couldn’t just sit in the bathroom for an hour and wait for him to show up, however. You needed to get back to work. Perhaps this had been a mistake after all.

You wiped the card off on the front of your jeans, then sighed as you tucked it back into your wallet. _Back to the grind, I go._

It was another couple of hours before you clocked out for the day. The place that you worked was in the middle of a dense city, so it wasn’t practical to drive to work. You drove every morning to a train station, where you then rode a train to get to where you needed to be. So now it was a matter of catching the train headed in the right direction so that you could drive the rest of the relatively short distance to your apartment.

It was raining today. This morning, it hadn’t looked like rain was even something to consider, so you didn’t have an umbrella on your person, or even a hat to wear. By the time you reached the train station, your hair was sticking to your face, and your clothes were soaked down to your bones. There were many people at the station, but every one of them walked past like you weren’t even there. It was a feeling you wished you would become accustomed to.

When your train finally arrived, you shuffled into the dry warmth of the train car graciously, and found an empty seat before anyone else could take it. After everything that had happened, you simply wanted the relief of getting off of your feet for the half-hour train ride. Plus, the shoes you were wearing were not slip-resistant, and the shuffling of the train would have caused you to go into an impromptu break-dance routine.

After becoming warm enough to feel comfortable, you lazily looked around the train. After riding this specific train route for so long, what laid beyond the windows no longer interested you, even when it was raining, which was normally one of your favorite things. You loved the smell, and the sound on the roof and on the windows of your car. So, you took to people-watching. Every now and then, particularly during the morning commute, you would see a familiar face, and it caused you to wonder. _Did people ever see you, and recognize you, from previous commutes? Did other people care enough to observe? Did anyone notice you at all..?_

Your eyes fell on a man sitting near a window, with an empty seat beside him. He was staring out the window in blissful awe, and it caused you to smile the slightest bit. He was wearing a knitted blue-and-white hat that read ‘GIANTS’ across the front, which looked like it could barely contain the massive amount of curly hair he possessed, and he—

_Wait a minute._

You looked harder at him. He looked familiar. He looked like… But that couldn’t be possible, this guy didn’t have the horns, or the claws, or the studded leather jacket… He looked as plain as any other commuter on the train. He looked human.

You decided to let it go. You pushed the idea from your mind, and looked back to the floor of the train. You were probably beginning to look very strange and creepy, staring at a guy on the train. Why did you even hope it was him? Why had you even tried to summon him earlier? What were you expecting? _He probably hadn’t even thought twice about you since your encounter. Probably not even once since then._

You folded your hands in your lap, as you were still cold, and waited out the next twenty minutes for your train to reach its destination.

You had become absorbed in your phone for the remainder of the train ride, listening to music and browsing Facebook. All of your friends and relatives were enjoying themselves elsewhere. Even your parents. It only served to put you off more, so you resigned to just listening to your music.

You sure have a knack for knowing just how to ruin your mood even further.

Finally, the train came to a stop at your station. It was still raining here, you had no umbrella, and your car was parked pretty far out into the parking lot. You sighed, and stood up, walking toward the exit door of the train, casting one more glance in the direction of the man by the window.

He was no longer there. He must have left at some point while you were wrapped up in your negative emotions. You sighed imperceptibly, and exited the train, returning to the cold rain that made you shiver.

“Looks like you should’ve brought an umbrella.”

You cocked a brow at the snarky remark. _How rude._ You turned to look in the direction it had come from, but no one was there. You turned in the opposite direction and were startled by the sudden presence of a tall figure beside you—

It was him, from the train. Now that you were looking at him, you realized you recognized his voice.

“D—“

“Dan’s fine. I’m not gonna just let you butcher my full name.” He waved his hand dismissively with a grin. His teeth weren’t sharp like they had been when you first met. In fact, he looked quite a bit differently. You had many questions. Why was he here? Had he appeared due to your summons? Why did he look so human?

But before you could choose one to ask first, he finally looked over at you with a raised brow, “So are we just gonna keep standing here, getting more and more soaked?”

You blinked, realizing he was right, and started to walk forward. _So, what, was he just here now?_

“Are you, following me?” You ask, as casually as possible, trying not to indicate your nervousness. You weren’t sure how you felt about the prospect. After all, you had attempted to summon him, and you had missed his presence, but now he was here and you felt confused.

“No, but I _have_ been looking for you.” He answered, equally casually. His answer caused a sudden tightness in your throat.

“What? Why? Am I in trouble for someth—“ you were interrupted by him, waving his hands and shaking his head, still smiling.

“No, no! You see, I’ve got… Ah… Well, let’s get in your car first.”

“Well, that’s pretty presumptuous of you. What if I don’t want you in my car?”

“… Fair enough.” He shrugged.

The two of you reached your car, but you didn’t pull out your keys just yet, instead turning to look at him.

“So… What is it?”

Dan sighed, then, and looked at one of his hands. He had abnormally long fingers, and his oddly shaped thumbs occupied your attention briefly.

“Well, that, uh, _favor_ I did for you. I got in trouble, like I told you I would.” He cleared his throat a bit, lowering his voice, as if doing so would make it harder for the Dark Lord to hear him. “I’ve been… _Temporarily evicted from Hell_. I have to redeem myself.” His eyes flit up to yours, and you felt your heart catch for a moment, and you took half a step back.

“A-are you, going to… k-kill me?”

“What!? No! No, no, no.” Dan reached out with both of his hands to you, but stopped himself before grabbing your shoulders, rescinding with a look of embarrassment on his face. “No, I wouldn’t— _I couldn’t._ ” He chewed on his bottom lip. “I’m not sure what to do to redeem myself.” He said, but his tone seemed unsure of his statement, as if he did know, but didn’t want to discuss it.

You weren’t sure how to feel about this demon. At this point, you weren’t even sure if he was a demon, he looked pretty human. _Maybe it had been a costume before._

“So… So why have you been looking for me, then?” You swallowed the lump in your throat.

“Oh. Well…” Dan stuck his hands back in his pockets. He looked so bashful, you half-expected him to dig his toe into the asphalt. “Due to my punishment, I obviously can’t go home, so… I need a place to crash. You’re the only human—well, living human—that I have had extended ‘outside-of-business’ interactions with. Plus… You make _really_ good cookies.” He smiled lopsidedly at you, and you felt heat pool in your face.

That smile was infectious, and it made you smile, too, even though you felt just the slightest bit annoyed.

“I… I _guess_ you can stay with me. I guess I, kinda, owe you.” You said this, lowly. Dan’s face lit up with joy, and out of your peripheral vision you thought you saw him doing a little dance. You unlocked your car, sliding into the front seat.

Once you were in, and had put your seatbelt on, you realized Dan was in the passenger seat, already buckled in. You hadn’t seen him cross in front of the car, and hadn’t heard the door open or close, or even the sound of the buckle. This caused you to pause, and look at him.

“So… So how do I know I’m not hallucinating all of this? You look pretty human to me.” You looked over his face. You were about as close to him now as you had been the first time you met. Those eyes of his were still mesmerizing, and though his breath didn’t smell like cookies, he did smell nice in general. He seemed a cleanly guy, which you wouldn’t have expected from a demon.

He pulled one of his hands out of his pockets, and demonstrated for you as his fingernails sunk back into his skin, and black claws protruded from the ends of his fingertips. He also pulled up his shirt slightly—a t-shirt that you recognized to belong to the band Tool— and exposed what looked to be a rubber hose tied around his waist, until you realized it was actually his tail, tucked out of sight. You caught a glimpse of the dark, curly hair that grew under his belly button and averted your eyes. Don’t be a perv!

He then reached out and cupped your chin with his taloned fingers, forcing you to look back at him, and he was grinning, allowing you to watch as his teeth reformed into sharp points. As this occurred, you noticed that his horns had reappeared, and the knitted beanie he had been wearing was now in his lap.

His grip on your chin was very real, and you had no doubts now. _It really was him_ , the one that had saved your life just a few days ago. The one you thought you might not ever see again, and yet he had sought you out.

You pushed away his hand on your chin, causing his brows to raise up as you reached out to him, hugging around his neck. You suddenly felt a wave of emotions befall you, tears welling up in your eyes. For a moment, it seemed he wasn’t sure what to do, keeping his arms in his lap. Although, he hadn’t pushed you off or protested the contact. After a moment, he carefully put one arm around you, and rested his taloned hand on the back of your head.

“Hey… You’re alright…” He said, softly. His voice was surprisingly soothing, which you wouldn’t have anticipated from an actual demon. “You’re still here… And I’m _really glad_ you are, even if it’s only caused me trouble...” You felt his black claws ever-so-gently grazing your scalp, running through your hair.

“If I was going to be stuck in the human world with _anybody_ , I’d want it to be someone who was happy to see me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The correct way to pronounce Dan's demon name (Danjlach) is 'DAHN-y-loch.' Names with 'j' are pronounced like 'y's.  
> Suuzjnihr 'SOOZ-y-neer'  
> Birjuhnzar 'bir-YUHN-szar'  
> Baarjkos 'BEAR-y-kohs'
> 
> also, i've never had a job in an office, i've always worked fast food, so i have no idea if secretary work is anything like what i described.
> 
> also i don't know how to summon demons.


	4. The Rules

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some ground rules need to be lain, and questions answered.

“There’s a couple of ground rules if you’re going to be staying here with me, okay?” You said this as you locked the door to your apartment. You and Dan had just arrived. Your clothes were still rather damp, and your hair was still plastered to your neck and face, leaving you very cold and a bit irritable at the moment.

Dan was standing in the center of your living area, hands in his pockets as he looked at you. “Understandable. Lay ‘em on me.”

You shed your coat as you spoke, hoping that by shedding the wet layers of clothing you would be able to feel the warmth of your apartment. You were about to speak to Dan when it occurred to you that he looked completely dry. He had resumed hiding his form after demonstrating his true form to you in your car, wearing jeans that looked brand new, never ripped, and a pair of admittedly ugly sneakers. Didn’t he have hooves? Or had your eyes been deceiving you?

“First rule, uh, no hooves on the hardwood floors. I can barely afford rent and groceries, I don’t need to pay for the floor in here. So, do whatever you need to do to make sure that doesn’t happen.” You gestured vaguely at Dan’s lower half.

Dan leaned forward slightly to look at his feet. He carefully stepped out of one of the sneakers to reveal a hooved foot. You had remembered correctly. He was standing on the red carpet of your living room, so it was acceptable for him to remain barefoot. “Yeah, alright. What else?” He said, with only the slightest hint of terseness in his tone.

You rubbed the back of your neck, separating the moistened strands of your hair from your skin and grimacing at how gross you felt. “Uhm, hold that thought. I’m going to take a shower, I can’t even think straight with how grimy I feel. Oh, that’s a good one—rule number two, stay out of my room unless you’re otherwise invited.” You pointed at Dan as you said this.

Dan chuckled, nodding and grinning. “Well, yeah, I thought that would go without saying. Do you—“ He stopped himself, closed his mouth, and resigned to silence, lowering his head slightly.

You figured he was about to ask you if you trusted him. There were some ways in which you did, but when it came down to it, you had a fucking demon residing in your house, and there were many, many things you didn’t know about this demon, or demons in general for that matter. You couldn’t be too sure of anything just yet.

“I’ll be right back, alright? You can make yourself at home, that couch is all yours. Just, uh, don’t dig around in the kitchen. I’ll have to lay down those rules when I’m done.” You toed out of your shoes by the door, then awkwardly peeled out of your soaked socks before making your way back to your bedroom, your dampened bare feet plapping along the floor as you went.

It must have been some demonic magic that prevented Dan from becoming soaked to the bone. _Did Demons have bones?_ You wondered. There were a lot of questions you had, but you weren’t sure how to ask them.

You closed your bedroom door behind you, locking it. After doing so, you figured that locking the door wouldn’t matter much, Dan could probably get in if he really wanted to, regardless. Hopefully, he would stay out. Surely, he understood the concept of privacy, right?

You picked out a pair of pajama pants and a loose shirt, the comfiest of both that you owned. You debated putting on a bra, but damn it, this was your house and you had a long day, you earned an evening without that essential discomfort. Dan would just have to deal with it.

When you stepped into the hot shower, everything that had been on your mind spiraled down the drain, and you felt lighter. You stood, facing the showerhead, and just allowed the water to pelt your face and trickle down your body, taking along with it all of your stress and worries.

***

The sound of _____’s door locking brought Dan back from his thoughts. He had been thinking about cookies, after she had mentioned the kitchen, and Dan recalled how delicious those cookies had been. However, recalling that day brought with it other memories.

She was depressed. Even though she wasn’t standing on the edge of the balcony like she had been that fateful evening, he could tell. He had seen it so many times before.

But why did he care, now? He’d never cared before. Perhaps it was because he wasn’t tied up with her in a business sense. All the other times he had been placed in a situation with someone that was severely depressed, suicidal even, they had been a client. Their lives hadn’t mattered, because one way or another, they’d die sooner than later, and it would almost definitely be related to their demonic dealings.

But _____ was not a client, at least as far as he knew. He didn’t get that feeling from her, like she was someone who would dabble in that kind of stuff. Perhaps that’s what he liked about her, she was different than the kind of person he was used to being around. She was genuine. She reminded him of all the reasons he loved the Earth and its inhabitants. He saw no difference between her, and a deer, or a flower.

After entertaining the train of thought for a few moments more, Dan closed his eyes and sharply shook his head, once. If he wasn’t careful, he was going to become way, _way_ too emotionally attached to this human. It had worked out for Arin and Suzy, but…

He shook his head again.

He turned, finally, to look around the living room where he was standing. There was a large couch, it looked plenty wide enough for him to lay on it without discomfort. The blanket that was thrown over the back of it looked rather comfortable as well.

On an adjacent wall was several shelves, only half of which housed books. The other shelves were occupied by knick-knacks, several of which he recognized to be from video games.

One of the things he loved the humans for the most, their many, many forms of entertainment. Video games, television, and music, which he adored the most of them all.

He approached the shelves in order to examine closer. Amiibos ( _“Oh shit, she has a Wii U?”_ ), collectors figurines from a plethora of games he recognized, some CDs from bands he’d never heard of ( _he really got into music back in the 80’s, which was definitely before she was born, so it made sense_ ), and a selection of DVD’s and books that he also didn’t recognize.

Dan’s thoughts wandered to his friends, and it caused him to frown. Arin would love this stuff, as he had developed a fondness for human pleasures just as Dan had. Suzy would probably get along great with _____, and—

He stopped himself before he could think on it any further. Even if he had a way to bring his friends here, he would have to ask _____ first, and he imagined that she wouldn’t be terribly keen on having a bunch of demons in her apartment. One was probably more than enough.

He paused his thoughts, as he realized silence was humming through the apartment. She must be done with her shower now.

***

Your stomach gurgled violently enough that you swear you felt your stomach actually shift.

You had lost track of time, unsure how long you stood there face-first in the water. By the time you finally began shampooing your hair, the water was not quite as hot as before. Either that, or you’d just become desensitized to the sting of the heat.

You rushed, just a little. Partly because you didn’t want the water to turn ice-cold on you, and partly because you weren’t sure what Dan had been getting into during your absence.

Also, you were extremely hungry. Your meager lunch at work had consisted of vending machine cheese-and-crackers and a bottle of water. You wondered if Dan even required food, being an otherworldly creature. Did he even have a digestive tract?

You toweled yourself off, actively avoiding looking at yourself in the mirror. That was an issue for another day.

Once dressed in the cozy outfit you had selected earlier, you already felt much better than you had when you and Dan entered the apartment. You wrapped your head with the warm towel and walked out into the kitchen.

Dan was nowhere to be seen. You walked into the living room and looked around, but saw nothing. His sneakers were gone, too. Had he left?

“Dan?” You said, a bit of concern in your voice.

“What?” Was his response, and he was standing immediately behind you, causing you to spin around and shove him in the chest, but he was a stone wall and didn’t budge. He was grinning, and his sharp teeth were bared.

“Okay, rule number three, don’t pull that shit.” You said this sternly, but the smile tugging at your lips indicated the emptiness of your threat.

You noticed now that he looked much more like he had when you first met. His hat was gone so his horns were hard to miss, and his jeans had changed to the ragged pair he had worn before. His legs were furry underneath, apparently, as coarse, dark brown fur stuck out of the holes and tears in the denim.

You didn’t realize how blatantly you were observing him until he commented, “This is essentially my default look. But I can look like I did before if it makes you more comfortable. And, of course, whenever you have guests. Which, speaking of, I was wondering…”

You brought your gaze back up to his face, and you felt a twist in your gut. This wasn’t going to be good.

“Wondering..?”

Dan cleared his throat a little, and looked around the room other than at you. “Wondering if, sometime, I could invite some friends over? We won’t make a mess, I promise, and we’re not gonna burn the place down.”

“Uhhhm. I presume these friends of yours are—“

“Demons, yeah.”

“I… I don’t know how I…”

“Yeah, no, it’s fine, I get it, I figured that would be your answer, it’s cool.” Dan shoved his hands in his pockets then, looking just a little upset by your answer.

It was enough to tug at your heartstrings. Damn him.

You reached out to put a hand on his arm, causing him to look back at you. You made the mistake of making eye-contact, and there was a silence between the two of you that hung a little too long. You pulled your arm away, and you both tore your eyes away.

“Maybe if… Maybe if I met them first. If they’re your friends, then I would assume they’re not…” You weren’t sure if saying ‘evil’ or ‘diabolical’ was offensive or not, so you trailed off.

“I’m starving, so I’m going to cook something. I was wondering in the shower if…” You began walking towards the kitchen, speaking loud enough so he knew you were still speaking to him.

“If I need to eat?” He offered, and he turned in time to see you nod your head. “Nah, I don’t need to. My body is pretty self-sufficient. I mean, I have a heart, which pumps blood through my body, but I don’t necessarily need to breathe or consume nutrients. I don’t need a digestive tract but I like having mine. I like to eat, at least some things.” He chuckled a little, placing a hand on his gut.

“Spicy stuff really doesn’t sit well with me. And I don’t like to eat meat.”

This surprised you, enough that you turned and looked at him with bewilderment. He shrugged, looking sheepish.

“Animals are cute, I don’t feel right eating them.”

That was… endearing.

“You’re a strange demon.” You commented aloud as you turned back to the fridge, deciding on some leftovers from a day or two ago, which thankfully didn’t contain any meat.

“Yeah, you’re not the only one who seems to think that.”


	5. The Incubus

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dan is lonely, he summons an incubus.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Three days after the previous chapter.

It was past midnight. Dan was laying across the couch in the living room, the TV was on but it was silent. Dan had been playing a game and paused it, leaving it so that the blue glow illuminated the room.

_____ was asleep in her room. She’d gone to bed several hours ago. She didn’t mind letting Dan play games all night, since sleep wasn’t something he needed a lot of. Even then, he did most of his sleeping while she was at work. He found he was a nocturnal creature, probably because it was always night-like in Hell. The bright lights of the daytime were almost overwhelming for Dan, so he was thankful to find _____ felt the same way, keeping the blinds and curtains drawn in her apartment at all times.

So why was Dan lying down instead of playing? Simple. He was lonely.

Dan missed his friends. Back home, since Barry was his roommate, he never had to worry about being lonely, someone was always around. And even though he had _____, he wasn’t sure their relationship was exactly ‘friendly’ just yet. And even then, he knew for a fact that they weren’t close enough that she would be content if he snuck into her room and woke her up to play Mario Kart with him. She had work in the morning anyway.

What time was it? Dan thought. He grabbed his phone off the bedside table to check the time. 3:46 in the morning.

His phone wasn’t anything that would be found in the human world. It was a magical device that could technically look like anything, it served simply as a communicator with other demons. Dan’s looked like an old Nokia, which _____ had pointed out and teased Dan over.

As Dan held the device, he missed his friends even more. It’d been days since he saw or spoke to any of them last. But, he knew that if he tried to contact any of them, it wouldn’t work.

… Right? The Boss wouldn’t allow that, there’s no way.

Dan felt lonely enough to try.

He tabbed to his messages and pulled up his most recent contact. He had been texting Arin that fateful day, before… Everything happened. His last text to Arin had been about the cookies he’d snagged. Arin had replied, “Nice.”

Dan slowly tapped out a text to his best friend.

>dude, I could totally use some Arin-brand buttsex right now

That was just their sense of humor. Dan hiccupped a small laugh as he hit the send button.

His shoulders sank when the text was highlighted with an ‘unable to send’ message.

Dan let his arms fall limp at his sides, his phone falling closed onto the floor and bouncing under the couch. Fuck.

Dan laid there like this, sad and lonely and a little bit bitter about his situation, when he suddenly bolted upright with an idea. He threw the blanket off of his body and jumped up from the couch with the grace of a deer, bouncing towards the kitchen before stopping in his tracks at the edge of the living room.

He sighed with slight annoyance as he slipped on a thickly padded pair of fuzzy socks that _____ had bought for him. _No hoof-scuffs on the hardwood!_

He turned on the kitchen light, shooting a quick glance towards _____’s bedroom door. He knew that the light from the kitchen would cast into her room, and if he wasn’t careful, he might wake her up. She didn’t like him in the kitchen without her permission, fearing he’d eat everything. But, for once, he wasn’t sneaking a 4am snack.

He quietly looked through the spice cabinet near the stove. He needed cocoa powder, but all he could find was Hot Cocoa mix with little bits of marshmallows in it. It smelled pretty old, too. It would have to do.

Dan turned the kitchen light back off and quickly but quietly returned to the living room, sitting at the coffee table and clearing it off. There were empty soda cans and a bowl that had once had popcorn in it there, but they were now set on the end table so that Dan had a clear area to work with.

He dumped the packet onto the table. It was now that he realized he had never actually done this before.

He stood up, and reached into the pocket of his jeans, which were so tight that the action could only be done while standing. He pulled out his wallet.

Currency was a loose concept in Hell. They didn’t use paper bills or coins, but souls, which were intangible. It was hard to explain to a human, so Dan didn’t even try. Keeping a wallet, in this case, was almost pointless. Dan only kept one so that he could keep his business cards on hand, like the one he had given to _____.

He also kept his friend’s cards on hand, a couple of each, in case he ever ran into someone that might require services he couldn’t personally provide. It took a bit of searching, but he found the last remaining card of his best friend.

_Aarhnor. Incubus, Gamer, Freelance Artist._

Arin had been interested in art as an angel, and had really began indulging in the practice when he discovered Suzy. He painted her, and there was no artwork in the world more beautiful. Unfortunately, the painting had been lost when the two of them fell from Heaven.

Dan was giddy as he flipped the card over and refreshed himself on the summoning etiquette. Summoning an incubus was a bit more complicated than other demons. First, a summoning circle had to be drawn in cocoa powder. The substance needed varied from Incubus to Succubus, but Arin specifically just liked Cocoa powder.

Secondly, a chant had to be spoken. This was usually where humans messed up, as their mouths and tongues were clumsy and couldn’t pronounce the words correctly, but this would be the easiest part for Dan.

The third part was going to be the hardest, however. Dan wasn’t aroused, and remembering that he was summoning his best friend, and not just any incubus, didn’t make it any easier for him to even convince himself to half-chub. He sighed in mild defeat, then. How was he going to do this?

… Maybe it would still work even if Dan wasn’t turned on. He knew that the magic of the summons were strict in some ways, and loose in other ways. Maybe, somewhere in this apartment complex, some lonely dude or chick was touching themselves and Dan could siphon off of that in order to summon his friend.

Normally he wouldn’t wish anyone such loneliness, but he was so lonely as it was.

He spoke the chant easily, quietly, the syllables rolling off of his tongue like he was born to speak the phrase.

The cocoa powder ring on the table disintegrated into the air, spinning about, causing Dan to grin, jumping up onto his feet.

He nearly screamed at what appeared, however, and threw his hands up over his eyes.

“Oh, what the fuck, Ar’!?”

Arin had appeared in the living room, which was a good thing, but he was unfortunately dressed like a schoolgirl, wearing a dark blue mini-skirt that did absolutely nothing to hide the pink panties he was wearing. His goatlike legs were clothed with heel-high socks, his upper body tightly contained in a white polo with a little navy-blue bow around his neck. His hair was up in pigtails, in little pink bows. Even his horns had bows on them.

When Arin realized he was not where he was expecting, and saw Dan, he was horribly confused, but not embarrassed.

“Woah, what the fuck? Dan?” Arin’s voice was happy as he rounded the table to approach Dan, but Dan scooted away, trying hard not to laugh too loud and wake up his tenant.

“Dude, fucking hell, please change, I can’t look at you when you’re dressed like that.”

Arin grinned, and laughed quietly. “Sorry, dude. I didn’t know it was you. There’s a guy in this complex who likes me to—“

“Arin, I don’t fucking want to hear another word.” Dan shook his head, unable to prevent himself from laughing now. He was grinning from ear-to-ear though. Before Arin could step back to go about changing his clothes, Dan spoke, “Man, I missed you so much.”

Arin tilted his head slightly, smiling fondly at his friend, his best friend. “Yeah, I could feel it, dude. When you were doing the chant, the loneliness was really, really intense.”

A few beats later, Dan felt thick, warm arms envelope him, and he knew it was safe to open his eyes and reciprocate the embrace, butting foreheads with his best friend.

Dan laughed a little, “I tried to text you first, I thought, maybe it would work, but of course it didn’t.”

“What did you try to text me?” Arin snorted. He knew how late it was, and he also knew how late-night-texts tended to go with Dan.

“Oh, you know, how much I want you in my asshole right now.”

They both laughed, as if that wasn’t the must vulgar and gay thing ever.

Arin leaned away, then, and looked around, “So, where are we?”

“Oh! Yeah, this is _____’s apartment. She’s the uh, the human that I…” He trailed off a little, fearful of how Arin would react to these news, suddenly. He hadn’t gotten the chance to really discuss any of that with Arin, before or after they went to the Hellscraper. He had no idea what Arin thought of it all.

Arin slowly turned and looked back at Dan, and Dan was surprised to see the smile on his best friend’s face. “That’s really nice of her, letting you stay. I guess she’s pretty grateful to you.”

Dan sighed with relief, smiling. Of course Arin would understand. He knew Arin, like himself, was still an angel at heart. They had been born that way, and no matter what, nothing could really change what you were at heart. Besides, this was ARIN. The angel who gave up everything in order to be with a human, a human he LOVED.

Suddenly Arin’s expression changed, as his brows furrowed and he narrowed his eyes at Dan.

“Are you going to kill her? To fulfill your debt to Satan?”

Dan bolted upright so quickly it caused Arin to pull back slightly. “What!?” He was a little too loud, so he covered his mouth, eyes darting towards _____’s bedroom door. “Dude, no!” He whispered harshly, “I couldn’t, I… I don’t know what I’m going to do about that whole thing. If I’m honest with you, I’m trying not to think about it.”

Arin looked only a little relieved. “Well, you’re gonna need to do something about that eventually. I’m glad you’re not going to choose her, though. I didn’t really think you would, anyway.” He relaxed on the couch, finally allowing his eyes to fall on the television, recognizing the menu and the game that was paused.

“Oh, shit, she’s got a Wii U? Are you playing Mario Kart?” Arin reached for the controller, unpausing it so that he could see what Dan had been up to.

“Yeah, I was, but it wasn’t very fun, I got bored.”

“But, dude, you love this game.” Arin said, without looking at his friend, already completely focused on what he was doing. He was hit by a shell, and he muttered an expletive under his breath.

Dan was smiling fondly as he leaned back on the couch, grabbing the secondary remote from the side table drawer. “Yeah, but only when I’m playing it with you.”


	6. The Morning After

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Arin makes his introductions, as well as breakfast.

You woke up, but it wasn’t to the sound of your alarm like most mornings. You laid awake for a few seconds, trying to figure out what had woken you up. It was the sound of scratching and clattering in the kitchen that caused you to sit up. Dan was supposed to stay out of the kitchen unless he had your permission.

You grabbed your phone to check the time. It was about 15 minutes before your alarm was set to go off. You had to be on your train to work in an hour.

You rose up from your bed. You slept in just panties, so you pulled on a fuzzy robe in order to go scold your temporary roommate.

When you opened the door, you were physically struck by the smell of eggs. Fluffy, salty, and a hint of cheese wafted through the air.

“Dan?” You croaked, your throat clogged with sleep, as you rubbed at your eyes. The kitchen lights were all on, which made emerging from your pitch-black bedroom blinding.

You heard the noises stop, then the sound of glass on the island counter, a plate being set down.

“Nah, Dan’s still asleep.” Was the reply you heard, a voice that you didn’t know at all, and it caused you to sober up rather quickly.

You opened your eyes, blinking away the bleary, gummy feeling behind your eyelids, as you took in the sight of the man in your kitchen. From the horns, and the tail, and the—thankfully—sock-covered hooves, you determined he was another Demon.

You were still so freshly awake, that you couldn’t really convey how upset you were by the presence of another demon in your apartment, instead slumping into one of the barstools near the kitchen island. The plate of scrambled eggs was set before you, the demon offering you a fork. You looked at it, then at the demon.

He smiled warmly at you, brandishing the instrument slightly. “It’s alright, they’re not poisoned or something. My name’s Arin. Dan and I go way, way, waaay back. I’m not gonna do anything to you, okay? Not my expertise, anyway.”

At the mention of Dan, you cast a look back towards the living room, seeing the other demon in question asleep on the couch, and now that you were focusing, you could hear him lightly snoring. He was face-down in the couch cushions, looking mildly uncomfortable.

Arin had moved away, sticking the fork into the eggs for you so that he could turn back to whatever it was he was cooking now. From the smell, and the sizzle, you determined it was bacon.

You hesitantly took the proffered fork, and decided that you weren’t going to complain over a home-made breakfast. You hesitantly took your first bite, and closed your eyes, letting out a soft moan of pleasure. These were the best fucking eggs you’d ever had in your life. “Holy shit, Arin.”

The demon looked over his shoulder at you with a devilish grin that was fitting on his face. “Thanks. It’s been a while since I cooked for a human, so it’s good to know I’ve still got it.” He turned back to his work.

You took a few more bites before you remembered that you were shocked at Arin’s presence in your kitchen. You stopped short before taking another bite. “Uhm… So, how… and why… are you in my house?”

Arin turned around then and placed three strips of bacon on your plate, taking one straight from the pan and chewing on it himself. “About four o’clock this morning, Dan summoned me, old-fashioned style. He was lonely, missed me.” He smiled fondly over at his friend, shaking his head somewhat. “We’ve never really been apart for more than a couple of days in like… Well… Ever. Since the creation of the universe, or whatever.” He waved a spatula around in the air. “We were angels way-back-when.”

You slowly nodded, looking over at Dan with a slight frown on your face. He had been lonely? You understood the sentiment of missing your close friends but you felt somewhat responsible as well. You had been acting pretty stern and harsh with him, all rules and boundaries and not really… Friendly. After all, he’d gotten into this mess because of you, and while you were grateful… You were treating him more like a burden than your hero.

“Hey,” You heard Arin speak, and you turned back to look at him. He had a sympathetic smile on his face, “It’s not your fault.”

You weren’t quite sure about how true that was, but you weren’t going to argue with Arin. You picked up a piece of bacon and began idly chewing it.

“So what, are you a cooking demon? People summon you when they’re too lazy to cook their own meals?” You jested. It made Arin laugh for real, which made you smile. Arin was a good-looking guy when you looked past the horns.

“Oh, if only. Nah, I’m an incubus.” He swayed his hips in a flirtatious manner at you, waggling his eyebrows over his shoulder. “It’s pretty funny, actually. In order to summon an incubus, like what Dan did last night, you’ve gotta be turned-on. Dan went through with it anyway and got lucky, the guy in the apartment upstairs must have been jackin’ it or somethin’. I showed up wearing a miniskirt and panties, Dan screamed, we’re surprised you didn’t wake up.”

This made you cackle, covering your mouth as you hiccupped gaily. Arin was chuckling as well as he turned around to face you, leaning on the counter in front of you.

It made sense that he was an incubus, he was very nice on the eyes, just like Dan was, but Arin was different. His arms were thick and a bit muscular, but not so much that they looked firm and hard. Arin was overall soft looking, and warm. He was definitely more thickly built than Dan but you suspected the two of them were the same height. You noted the long, blonde strand in Arin’s hair, which was curious to you. Was it natural? Did he dye it? Did demons bother with superficial things like that?

“You said you hadn’t cooked for a human in a while?” You decided to try talking again, as the look Arin was giving you was giving you goosebumps. It was as if he was undressing you with his eyes. You wondered if he knew you weren’t wearing anything under the robe. Could Incubus see what you looked like under your clothes? Could Arin somehow tell that it’d been a while since you had sex with someone?

The question seemed to garner his attention, however, and his pupils shrunk down, as they had been blown a few moments previous. “Oh, oh yeah!” He was suddenly beaming, bringing his hands up to his chest, entwining his fingers in a theatrical show of pining, tilting his head to the side.

“Some thousands of years ago, when Dan and I were still but angels, I set my eyes on the most beautiful human maiden in all of creation.” He said this painfully poetically, and it made you laugh, which caused Arin to grin. He was doing this purposefully to make you laugh.

“She was a princess, and I wanted to make her mine. But, for angels, it’s wrong to fall in love with humans. So, they took my wings, and they turned me into a demon.” He lowered his hands from his chest, opting to shrug instead. Then an evil grin crossed his lips. “But, that only made it easier for me to reach her.”

Your stomach tightened up. You weren’t sure you liked the turn this was taking. Arin seemed to read this expression on your face, and he began to shake his head frantically, bringing his hands up to shake them as well.

“It wasn’t like that! I didn’t ever lay a finger on her without her permission. I would come to the surface world, I courted her, as per the customs at the time. I eventually revealed myself to her, explained to her that we couldn’t be married, couldn’t bare children together, anything like that… But I desired her so, and I wanted nothing but for her happiness. She made contracts with us, so that the suitors her father lined up for her would end up in… Unfortunate accidents. She lived into old age, and the history books say that she died a virgin.” He waggled his eyebrows then, “But… Who’s to say?” He shrugged again, chuckling.

“Her extensive dealings with demons resulted in her soul being sent to Hell, she became a demon herself. She sought me out, and…” He reached inside of his shirt, pulling out a black, diamond-shaped locket, opening it and offering it to you.

Inside was a picture of Arin with the girl you assumed he had been speaking of. She really was breathtakingly beautiful, and she looked incredibly happy with Arin in the photograph, kissing his cheek with black lipstick smearing on his cheek.

“We’ve been inseparable ever since.” Arin said, fondly.

You looked back up at Arin with a fond smile. As convoluted of a story it was, you found it strangely sweet, and endearing.

“What does she think of you being an Incubus and having sex with humans?” You asked, mostly jokingly, but Arin chuckled as he brought the locket back into his shirt.

“She’s a Succubus, so it’d be pretty hypocritical of her to complain. I don’t complain when she’s off doing the same thing. She always comes home to me, so that’s all that matters.” He smiled fondly. “Dan thinks—and I agree with him—that you and Suzy would get along. I think he wanted me to be gone before you woke up, but I thought instead that I’d make a good impression.” He waggled a single brow at you, which made you smile in return, your cheeks just the faintest bit pink.

“Well, you’re welcome to stay with him today while I’m at work. You’ve earned my blessing.” You chuckled, standing up from your seat. Your plate was only half-empty, but Arin didn’t seem bothered as he took it and began walking towards the living room. “I need to get to work, but it was nice meeting you, Arin.”

“The pleasure is all mine, _____.” Arin winked at you over his shoulder as he set the plate down on the coffee table for Dan, whenever he would eventually wake up.

You made your way back into your bedroom, and closed the door behind you, locking it, out of habit more than anything.

You wondered, then, as you began picking out your outfit for the day, if the arousal pooling in your belly was just a side-effect of being in the presence of an Incubus.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I live for comments! Let me know if you think this is flowing well, I'd really appreciate some critical input!


	7. The Realization

When Y/N left, Arin was seated on the floor in the living room, playing on the Wii U. The television was muted, and Dan was still dead-to-the-world on the couch, but he had obviously flipped onto his back during the time she had been getting ready for work.

She shook her head with amusement at him, and waved to Arin as she left, closing and locking the door behind her.

Arin was playing Pokken, and lost track of time between Y/N leaving and Dan waking up. He heard the other demon’s tired, groggy groan from behind, so he paused the game and turned to look at Dan with a smile.

“Good morning, sleepyhead.” Arin spoke softly, sing-songy. He glanced at the clock on the wall, then, and realized it was after noon.

“Er, well, good afternoon.” Arin corrected himself with a chuckle.

Dan rubbed at his eyes, quietly groaning as he moved to sit up. “Ar’? What’re you still doing here, I told you Y/N would be irate if—“

“Nah, it was fine. I cooked her breakfast, made a nice impression, she told me I was welcome here.” Arin reached over to the coffee table and nudged the plate of cold eggs and soggy bacon to Dan. “I brought you the stuff she didn’t eat, figured you’d be hungry.” He then swiped his can of Pepsi from the coffee table and drank from it.

Dan looked at the plate and grimaced a bit, “You know I don’t eat meat, dude…”

“Oh, right, sorry. More for me.” Arin swiped the bacon from the plate, shoving them unceremoniously in his mouth before turning back to the television and unpausing his game.

Dan stood up then, grabbing the plate and heading into the kitchen to microwave it. He stopped short of the hardwood floor. “Hey did you at least—“

The pair of fuzzy socks hit Dan in the side of the head, and it made Dan laugh. He slipped them on clumsily, balancing his plate in one hand as he did so.

While his plate was in the microwave, warming up, Dan leaned against the doorframe into the kitchen.

“Well, I’m glad she liked you. That just means I can summon you whenever I want.” He chuckled.

Arin grinned, but didn’t tear his eyes from the screen. “You sure you wanna do that? I might show up in a G-string and nipple-tassels next time.”

The mental image made Dan’s face screw up in a combination of disgust and amusement. “Gross, dude.”

Arin shot Dan a brief glance, grinning allthewhile, “And that’s not even the worst thing I’ve shown up wearing. Humans are into weird stuff. Like, this one time—“

“Dude, I’m about to eat, can we not?”

Arin just shrugged then, chuckling. “Speaking of which… Y/N… She’s pretty cute.”

Dan’s amused expression sobered slightly. “I… I mean, yeah, compared to most humans I’ve had the pleasure of running into, she’s definitely… Definitely prettier than most.”

“You should fuck her.” Arin stated, plainly.

If Dan had been drinking something, he would have done a spittake. He sputtered anyway, “Wh-what?! I mean… That’s…”

Arin paused the game, then, and looked at Dan, leaning back on his hands while cross-legged on the floor. “I was eye-ing her up this morning—she caught me doing it, too, hah—but like, she hasn’t been touched nicely in _years,_ dude. I think it would really help her depression issue if she just, I dunno, got laid. I mean, I would know, I do it all the time. Guys and girls summon me and at first they just cry because they didn’t expect it to actually work, but then I’m there. Usually when depressed folks summon me I’m dressed like this, I look comfortable and approachable, familiar. And they just fall into my arms and I make ‘em feel good and afterwards I’ll snuggle ‘em a bit. Give ‘em my card, tell ‘em they can call me up again on a bad night. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don’t. They get better after that. Sometimes it's just cathartic to be touched by hands that aren’t yours, you know? I know you get what I mean, dude.”

Dan nodded slowly, “I mean, yeah, I do, but…” He trailed off, not sure what else to say, especially when something was nagging at him.

“… What did you mean by ‘touched nicely?’ Are you telling me she was…” Dan frowned, his brows knitting together.

Arin frowned, too, bringing a clawed hand up to card back through his hair. “I don’t get the vibe it was non-consensual, but she’s hurting from it, dude. Emotionally, I mean. The last hands that were on her weren’t terribly kind.”

The microwave dinged, and Dan was a little too eager to fetch his plate, needing at least a moment’s respite from this information.

Had this been why she was going to kill herself? He’d saved her, sure, but was he really what she needed? A demon to soothe her demons? No… She deserved better. He wasn’t even that good looking, not like Arin or Suzy. Maybe…

… No, Dan didn’t like the idea of letting one of his friends get to know her like that. Maybe it was selfish of him, but he couldn’t just sit idly by and watch her fall helplessly in love with someone she couldn’t have. Whether it be Arin, Suzy, or any other incubus. There were certainly plenty of others.

… He wasn’t 100% opposed to the idea of being intimate with her. She was definitely easy on the eyes and he had definitely wondered what she looked like undressed, but… She was a _human_ and he’d never been with a human before. That wasn’t his line of work, he wasn’t an Incubus.

But also, he didn’t want her to feel indebted to him. Like, he saved her life, but she didn’t need to thank him by sleeping with him. He didn’t want her to feel like that, she didn’t owe him anything.

… Not really, anyway, but Dan was still trying not to think about that right now.

He finally came back into the living room. Arin had resumed playing his game.

“Took you long enough.” Arin commented as Dan settled down on the floor next to his best friend.

“Sorry.” Dan replied, a bit distant, still deep in thought but eagerly trying to wrench his mind away from the heavy topics and focus on the game Arin was playing.

“Dude, don’t get all in your head about this. Human girls are so easy to please, not like demon girls. Y’know, Demon girls are all ‘bite me harder’ and ‘make me bleed’ and it takes fucking hours to make ‘em cum, it’s like a goddamn chore. But humans? Hoo boy. They’re all feather-light touches and teasing and soft and they cum so easy it makes you wanna go all night long. Sometimes they do, too.” He waggled his eyebrow at Dan out of his peripheral vision.

Dan chewed the slightly stale but warm eggs, and glanced at Arin when he felt the other’s eyes. “I’m not just gonna, one night be like, ‘Hey, you’ve been looking really sad, wanna fuck?’ like, if she’s all depressed about a guy treating her in a way that’s made her depressed enough to try killing herself, I don’t think she needs a demon like me, or any other demon, offering a one-night stand to fix all her problems. I don’t claim to understand women, demon-or-not, but I get the feeling that might just make things worse.”

“Then don’t do it like that. Why don’t you try to get to know her better and, I dunno—“

“Court her?” Dan asked, incredulously.

“You say that like it’s ridiculous. Do you realize who you’re talking to? Suzy was—and is—the best thing to ever fucking happen to me. Maybe Y/N will be the best thing that ever happened to you. Maybe you saving her was some sort of… God’s will.” Arin’s eyes darted quickly around when he spoke the name.

“I mean… The only thing you ever did to lose your wings was to love so generously. That’s what He does. It was only wrong of you because it wasn’t your job to feel that way. Maybe He stepped in and directed all this, you know?”

Dan hadn’t really thought about that. It was a pretty deep observation. “I mean… I guess that could be possible.”

“Dude, it would probably make her super happy if you just treated her decently. Be friends, be more-than-just-friends, whatever happens, but like. Make an emotional connection with her. Make her understand that just because some asshole wasn’t good to her doesn’t mean that she doesn’t deserve better.”

“Yeah… You’re right, man.” Dan nodded sagely, a slight smile on his face. “… You wanna help me cook something for her later? She’ll be back around 3.”

“Dude, yes.”

“She likes peanut-butter-chocolate-chip cookies.”

“I’ll call Suzy, they’ll get along great.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Firstly, I want to thank everyone who has been following this story for your patience. I apologize profusely for the month-long hiatus. Anyone who reads my other story, La Vie En Camaieu, would have gotten my message on the last chapter's footnotes. For anyone who doesn't, I'll recap.
> 
> Earlier this month, I was kicked out of my home. I was accused of ruining my mother and step-father's marriage, and told they were going to divorce. My mother and siblings and I were all kicked out of our family home of eleven years with nothing but the clothes on our backs. For a few days, we were forced to stay with my biological father, my mother and I sleeping on the floors for a few days.
> 
> Things have improved, my mother and stepfather reconciled and my siblings are now at home, but... I cannot go back. I gathered my belongings and left. I've been couch surfing while desperately seeking employment and trying to juggle my education at the same time. I've fallen into a deep pit of depression due to all of this and lost the motivation to write.
> 
> I'm in a semi-stable place now, living with family friends. I have a bed to sleep in, wi-fi, and I'm not going hungry. I'm yet to find a job but right now I'm not being charged for rent, so it's not as urgent. But I am still hurting for money, and I will eventually have to find a place of my own.
> 
> As well as a writer, I'm also an artist. I'm working on an **Art and Writing commissions** page that will be posted in the near future on my tumblr. [If you don't already follow me, do give me a follow to keep up-to-date on how my life is going as well as the progress on new chapters and immediate chapter updates as well.](http://moobaby.tumblr.com/)
> 
> Once again, thank you all for your patience and well-wishes. I wrote this chapter just in the last two hours, after having been struck with inspiration while, ironically, eating peanut-butter-chocolate-chip brownies. Perhaps I just need to treat myself more often and writing will come easier.
> 
> \--Moobaby


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